CHARACTERS, 



761 



in Ihe minds of all persons interest- 

 ed in the fate of Tobago, measures 

 were adopted by those in Britain, 

 for obtaining from the court of 

 France some amelioration of their 

 condition. The first step was to 

 select a proper negociator ; and 

 for this purpose all eyes were 

 "turned towards general Melville, 

 «ho was requested to repair to 

 Versailles, there to solicit for the 

 unfortunate colonists of Ti'^igo 

 those indulgencies to which, from 

 the terms of the cession, they could 

 form no claim. In acceding to 

 this request, the general, that the 

 application from the new subjects 

 to their new master might appear 

 the more decorous, suggested that 

 a coadjutor should be given to him 

 in the business ; and Mr. Young, 

 (the present Sir William Young) 

 was joined in the mission. 



The success of the application 

 •at Versailles exceeded the most 

 sanguine expectations ; and to the 

 beneficent magnanimity of the ill- 

 fated Louis XVI, on the liberal 

 suggestions of his truly respectable 

 minister for the navy and the co- 

 lonies, the late marshal duke de 

 Castries, that success was by ge- 

 neral M. uniformly attributed. 

 Let it, however, be added by one 

 ■who, as secretary to the general on 

 that occasion, had indubitable evi- 

 dence of the fact, that the repre- 

 sentations of the minister, and the 

 consequent decisions of the sove- 

 reign, were very materially in- 

 fluenced by esteem for the charac- 

 ter of general M. and confidence 

 in the manly, candid and honour- 

 able conduct he displayed in every 

 part of the negotiation. The hu- 

 manity, liberality, and disinterest- 

 edness, which had marked the 

 whole of his admiuistration in 



Guadaloupe, while it remained 

 under the British flag, and the 

 whole of his general government 

 of the ceded French colonies, had 

 in the persons of some individuals, 

 and in the connections of others of 

 distinction in France, secured for 

 general M. a cordial and confiden- 

 tial reception, which it may have 

 beer the happiness of few nego- 

 ciators to possess. At his last in- 

 terview with M. de Castries, that 

 minister expressed his royal mas- 

 ter's entire satisfaction with the 

 general's management of so deli- 

 cate a negotiation ; adding that his 

 majesty was convinced the general 

 had, throughout the whole busi- 

 ness, performed the part of a ge- 

 nuine and impartial friend and um- 

 pire between France and Tobago : 

 — Voiis avez agi en vrai tiers was 

 the expression. 



Ex pede Herculem. — To present 

 some idea of the spirit by which 

 general M. was actuated in his 

 administration of affairs, civil and 

 military, in Guadaloupe and its de- 

 pendent islands, the following spe- 

 cimen may suffice. 



By the capitulation, the French 

 royal council had been preserved 

 in the full exercise of all its func- 

 tions and privileges, and the French 

 laws, civil and criminal, remained 

 in their original force ; the gover- 

 nor, who was ex officio, president 

 of the council, was the only Bri- 

 tish subject in that body. At a 

 meeting of the council, in the ca- 

 pital of the island, in 1Y60, while 

 general M. was seated at the head 

 of the council-table, the board 

 being complete, and the crown- 

 lawyers conducting the business of 

 the day, the governor's ears were 

 assailed by a horrid human shriek, 

 proceeding from an inclosed area 



under 



